Page 50 of Sweeter Than Honey
“Olive first.”
A moment later, a dark-haired woman appeared at the window. She lifted herself into the window and wiggled out. Jett caught her in one arm, then pulled back to make room for Cara.
“I’ve got her,” a voice sounded from above him.
Jett glanced up. Fox rappelled down in full climbing gear. He reached for Olive.
“Nice to see you, cuz.”
Fox grinned and wrapped an arm around the woman, looped a safety harness around her and moved to the side to give Jett room. He hurried to the window to help Cara. She seemed weak, too weak, barely able to pull herself through. She advanced her shoulders and he gripped her beneath the arms and carefully dragged her out.
Right into his arms.
A sob burst out of her as his arms wrapped around her slight body. She clung limply to him, a ragdoll in his arms. But she was alive!
“Look out!”
Fox’s call of alarm came just as a band of rocks tumbled from above. Jett kicked them out of the way, freefalling on the chain momentarily until he found a foothold and brought them back to the surface. Metal crunched as the rocks pummeled the van and it slid over the lip with a metallic scream.
A furry body followed the van, rolling down the side and toppling over. Then another.
Jett glanced up and found his pack staring down with satisfaction on their beastly faces.
It was over.
And he had the only thing that mattered in his arms.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Icanwalk.”
“The hell you will.”
Cara gasped as Jett gently swooped her up in his arms. She’d barely gotten out of the truck, and he’d been at her side, ready to take control. She didn’t argue. He’d saved her life, after all.
She trembled as they crossed to the front porch. Not long ago, the yard had been a place of terror. She’d been dragged across the porch, forced to do nothing as Jett lay there helpless, and she was shoved into a van. She and Olive had run, but they’d been recaptured. Olive had been knocked out, but thankfully the assholes hadn’t killed her. They hadn’t made it far down the road before the cliffside gave way to an avalanche of rocks and boulders that had pushed the van down the side of the mountain to rest on the cliff.
She’d been banged around inside, tumbled left and right until she didn’t know if they were up or down. Luckily, she hadn’t hit her head and neither she nor Olive was seriously injured. But every time the shifters tried to get to them, more rocks would spray down and strike the van, inching it closer and closer to the edge of the cliff. Hours passed as rain beat the van, and the air inside the vehicle became stale. Each time Cara considered trying to get out, she’d hear the shifters hollering from above, or the van would slide another inch.
And then Jett had come.
She barely recalled getting off the side of the mountain or the drive to the emergency room. She’d had her head buried in his chest the entire time. He’d stayed by her side as long as the doctors would let him and waited just outside the door when they kicked him out. He’d held her hand while she slept and sat quietly by the bed as she received intravenous fluids. She’d heard him speaking to Dax on his cell while she was dozing, reassuring him that Allie’s long labor would be worth it.
Olive had been taken to The Lodge where Rowan offered to look after her for a concussion. Cara was so grateful it hadn’t been worse, that she and Olive were all right. That the shifters who had saved them were all okay.
She didn’t need to ask about her captors. She’d seen the bodies go whizzing past over the mountainside.
A note was taped to the front door. Jett ripped it off the frame and opened the door. She tried to get down, but he only held her tighter. Cara looked at him. Stress lines were etched beside his eyes, his beard and hair rumpled. He looked wild and beautiful and so handsome that it made her heart hurt.
“Upstairs and into bed with you.”
“But—”
Jett shook his head, his eyes growing serious. “No. We’ll talk about everything tomorrow. You need rest. I’ll take care of everything else.”
She nodded and let him carry her upstairs. There was so much she wanted to say, to tell him, but it didn’t seem important right now. She toyed with the curls at the nape of his neck and soaked in the feeling of him carrying her so steadily. Had she ever felt this safe?
“Here you go. Do you want a warm bath before you take a nap? I can run the—”
